CLASS 1A GIRLS BASKETBALL REPORT by Kerry Sherman

CLASS 1A GIRLS BASKETBALL REPORT

BY: KERRY SHERMAN

Quite a bit has happened since our last check-in, and one of the biggest winners of the past week has to be Eads. The Lady Eagles begin the weekend sitting third in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index following wins over #2 Stratton and #6 Idalia last week. They have won four straight heading into a weekend that includes trips to #19 Cheraw and #22 Kim/Branson.

The loss by Stratton was its second straight, but the Lady Eagles got back on track in a big way, handing #1 McClave its first loss of the season on Tuesday. Stratton needed a 16-7 fourth quarter to snap its slide with the 50-47 victory. There’s not a lot of time to celebrate that win, as the Lady Eagles visit #4 Fleming on Thursday and host #17 Kit Carson on Friday.

McClave had won 11 straight games to begin the season, including a 50-point beatdown of 2A Limon last Thursday. The Lady Cardinals had four players in double figures, including Abrielle Gomez, who flirted with a quadruple-double for the second time this season. The junior posted a line of 16 points, 13 rebounds, eight steals, and six assists. It ended up being her second triple-double in the span of three games.

Idalia’s loss at Eads last Saturday was a major letdown for the Lady Wolves, who just one night earlier rode the highest of highs. Trailing a top-five 2A Simla by one in the closing seconds, Tatum Soehner buried a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 50-48 win. The Lady Wolves have already bounced back from the Saturday loss to pick up a 58-42 win over a scrappy #18 Flagler squad. The weekend for Idalia includes a home tilt with YWKC foe Arickaree/Woodlin (#24).

As noted earlier, Fleming has a tough one against Stratton on Thursday, which begins a pretty tough stretch, including 2A Union Colony Prep on Saturday, and 2A #1 Merino next Tuesday. The Lady Wildcats have won seven of their last eight going into Thursday’s contest, but they were pushed hard on Tuesday in a 49-47 win over #27 Genoa-Hugo/Karval.

In their only action of the past week #5 Briggsdale collected a nice 49-35 win over #13 Otis. Kayl Klem had an 11 point, 17 rebound double-double in the victory. The Lady Falcons visit a top-10 2A squad in Heritage Christian on Saturday and will host #12 Prairie on Tuesday in North Central action.

Seventh-ranked Springfield extended its winning streak to three with a tough 58-56 win at Kit Carson on Tuesday. The Lady Longhorns won the game with a 16-11 final frame. They’re in a streak of four games in eight days, with home games against #25 La Veta and #30 South Baca sandwiched around a road trip to Manzanola on Saturday.

Sitting eighth in the Seeding Index, Evangel Christian Academy came up one point short against Prairie last Saturday, but got back in the win column on Tuesday with a double digit victory over Las Animas. Talk about a busy stretch, the Lady Eagles host #31 Elbert on Friday, visit Kit Carson on Saturday, and host #9 Hi-Plains on Monday.

For Hi-Plains, that Monday contest follows a tough one on Saturday against #11 Cheyenne Wells. The Lady Patriots enter that contest on the heels of a 43-36 win at Kit Carson last Thursday. Cambria Seaman had a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds in that win.

De Beque won for the sixth time in the last seven games with a 54-27 decision over Caprock Academy on Wednesday. Three of the games in that stretch were decided by two points or less, and another was by seven. The Lady Dragons are off until next Saturday.

Cheyenne Wells won two games last week, taking down Cheraw and Genoa-Hugo/Karval. The big news out of the weekend was Paige Ryser reaching 1000 points for her career on Saturday. The Lady Tigers could not keep the winning streak alive, as they were beaten by Greeley County (KS) on Tuesday. Before they make their trip to Hi-Plains on Saturday, they will host South Baca on Friday.

Thanks to the win over ECA and one against Potter-Dix (NE), Prairie heads into the weekend with four straight dubs. Only the ECA game was decided by single digits. Sophomore Hannah Kugler went off for 28 points and 11 rebounds against Potter-Dix on Tuesday. The Lady Mustangs have a pair of tough match-ups over the next few days, with a trip to Otis preceding the contest with Briggsdale next Tuesday.

Otis bounced back from its tough loss to Briggsdale by beating Weldon Valley 70-50 on Tuesday. Aedyn Tribelhorn came up one rebound and one steal shy of a triple-double, scoring a career-high 29 points to go with her nine boards and nine steals. It was only the junior’s second time scoring more than 20 in a game. The 70 points scored by the team were a season-high. The only action for the Lady Bulldogs this weekend is the contest against Prairie.

After suffering a one-point loss to De Beque last Thursday, Nucla got back on track with wins over Dolores and Dove Creek, the latter coming on Tuesday. For the Lady Mustangs, that 38-31 victory over Dove Creek snapped a 20-game losing streak in the series. The last time they had tasted victory was in February of 2017. The leaders in the San Juan Basin will look for the season sweep of Mancos on Thursday.